Nowadays every song is at your disposal on Spotify and Youtube, and you can also find how to play these songs on guitar tablature and guitar lesson websites. Having access to everything instantly makes you want to hear and learn things quicker, easier, faster, better and have more of it.

The tricky part is we tend to forget to dig deeper into the songs. We move on to the next and the next and might not give it the time and attention it deserves.

I’m also guilty of learning songs fast, effective and efficiently for teaching and gig purposes, but there are also times I just want to dive deeply into a song and absorb every single detail.

It’s an immense joy to take the time to learn, practice, and figure out all the nuances and things that make the song what it really is. Total immersion.

You slowly digest the song and learn an incredible amount of craftsmanship that’s built into the song that you probably don’t hear at the surface. You will appreciate and enjoy the song a whole lot more when you take the slow and thorough approach.

You don’t have to do this with every song, but at least with the songs you really love. Start with one or two songs and enjoy the process.

I love gathering quotes of wise, smart, successful, creative and musical human beings. They always inspire me to get more out of myself, to think differently, grow and expand my horizon, or sometimes remind myself of the obvious.

Today I will share with you 20 beautiful quotes that will take you back to the drawing table and motivate you to practice diligently to realize your true potential. After all, practice is the vehicle that will lead you to your desired outcome.

Tip: Read all the quotes carefully. Take two or three quotes, write them down and hang them up on your wall, set it as a background on your computer or iPhone. Make sure you see these quotes everyday to remind yourself of the importance, joy and rewards of practice.

After a considerable period of time and regular guitar practice you will pass the stage of the beginner and move up to a more intermediate guitar level. You’ve acquired all the basic skills and you’re looking forward to take things to the next step. But what does that actually mean, intermediate level? What should you be practicing now to take it even further?

A lot of guitar players start out all excited in the beginning. They learn how to play songs, fingerstyle, some riffs and solos, but then lack the persistence to follow through. They lean back in their comfort zone, practice less and improvement becomes meager. The basics are solid, but it becomes difficult to maintain the same eagerness and passion to grow into an even better guitar player.

So how do you go from the beginner path to the intermediate path and keep walking? How do you keep that same spirit and pace of improvement to get to the next level? Well today, we’re showing you the intermediate path of learning guitar. The path of progress and becoming the guitar player you set out to be.

Here are the keys:

Level up your chords
Work on learning, memorizing and applying new chords. Learn slash chords to create smooth transitions between chords. Work on a vocabulary of jazz chords that are also often used in pop, rock and blues music like Maj7, Maj6, mMaj7, Min6, m7b5, augmented and dim7 chords.

Apply the chords to songs and keep using them so they are fully integrated into your playing. Learn the chords you already know and new chord types in different positions on the neck to become more versatile and free in your playing.Continue Reading

Wow, time flies doesn’t it? Another year has gone by. I realize, you really got to take time to pause, reflect, and keep figuring out what you want in life (and what you don’t want) before it passes you by. Life is too darn precious and too darn short.

Luckily a fresh new year is ahead of us. An entire year of new blank pages to fill. You can start over, start from scratch, change your direction, experiment, improve, grow and learn new things.

Well, let’s make time for playing guitar. Let’s make it a priority. Let the trivial things in life not get in the way of the things that matter to you. Schedule dedicated daily practice time on your calendar. Set a timer on your phone for 30 to 60 minutes…and GO!